Beer: Reviews & Ratings

This was by far the best pumpkin ale I've had. It was much more memorable than all the others.

Maybe it was the aroma, or maybe the taste. Maybe it was the way it went down so easily at 10% and all. No - I think what set apart for me was the Belgian yeast. Man I love those Belgians!It's aroma and flavor are just bursting with pumpkin and spice.My only regret is that I didn't bring a growler home. (402 characters)

This was the main event during the Pumpkin Fest 2008 event at the Iron Hill North Wales location on 10/25/08. Served cask conditioned and gravity fed out of an empty pumpkin by head brewer Larry Horwitz. Served in a snifter.

Pours a hazy, deep, and burnt orange color with a thin fizzy head of brite-white foam. There isn't much retention on the surface but swirling does leave some decent spotty lacing and oily residue down the sides of the glass. The aroma is a big nose full of pumpkin spices up front and I was happy to be able to pick up some roasty smelling pumpkin meat in there as well. There are also some deeper notes of fruit tang sweetness and a definite yeasty presence. A slight waft of alcohol drifts in and out of the other aromas.

The taste is a mellow and well balanced mix of spices and pumpkin flavoring with some candied sugar qualities thrown in as well. Citrus tang and yeast combine to give the flavor profile an almost astringently silky feel but it doesn't distract from the other qualities. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with a relatively slick feel and flat carbonation but I would expect that being cask conditioned. Alcohol is present but never becomes stinging, instead manifesting itself with a slightly boozy feel on the breath. Otherwise that 10% is pretty well hidden.

Wow, this really turned out nice! Packed with big pumpkin character, the Belgian yeast in this really helps carry the flavors and hefty ABV along the palette well and makes for quite a nice and warming cool weather sipper. This reminded quite a bit of a spicy, pumpkin infused, high-alcohol cider at times and the cask conditioning mellowed the profiles and brought everything together. Very nice! (1,715 characters)

m: medium to full body with a thick malty mouthfeel, carbonation on the low end

t: a malty dubbel base is complemented very well by a balanced pumpkin pie spice combination, the typical belgian yeasts contributing their own clove and ester notes to blend in seamlessly, sweet malty flavors of toffee and dark fruits run through, lightly hopped with a lingering malt flavor

o: really got down with this one - the native spice of the dubbel style goes perfectly with pie spices, and the malt sweetness is just the right setting (1,079 characters)

T - The Belgian qualities equal the pumpkin characteristics in the flavor, offering a bit more balance to the flavor than with the aroma. Initial flavor is spicy and yeasty with some fruity qualities, but the requisite pumpkin spices shine through as well. There's a bit of pumpkin meat in there, but the flavor is dominated mostly by the spices, especially given the addition of the spicy Belgian yeast, with cinnamon being the most apparent. Finishes with floral hop notes and a hint of earthy spice.

M - Medium body with an oily texture and very soft carbonation. Spicy with a hint of bitterness and touch of residual sweetness on the palate.

D - The pumpkin spices work pretty well with the Belgian yeast attributes here. Good stuff overall, and I'm glad to have tried both versions served at the event. (1,271 characters)

On tap at the brewery, allegedly tapped from an actual pumpkin. Surprisingly dark look, maroon and chestnut, hazy, thin head. A lot of spices -- cinnamon, cloves, are really at the forefront. The malt is very typical for the high-gravity Iron Hill offerings, kind of on the sweet side, and with a really big presence. The pumpkin is more apparent toward the beginning, it takes a back seat the the spices and sweet malt. Kind of boozy. Enjoyable but not really stellar. Sort of messy and overly sweet in retrospect. (527 characters)